LONE PROTEST HALTS BUILDING SITE WROK

AN angry homeowner whose quiet cul-de-sac has been turned into the entrance for a major building

development halted work on the site in a one-woman protest.

Annette Ward moved her Volvo estate car from her drive to make access difficult to the site off Chieveley Close.

Mrs Ward then sat on a chair in the middle of road to stop juggernauts entering the former Filbee Yard in Tilehurst.

Mrs Ward says her life has been turned into a living nightmare since September when work started on the site to build 32 flats between Park Lane, Chievely Close and Enbourne Close.

Since then the builder has been given permission for 10 more homes, which are being built simultaneously.

But despite various complaints to construction firm McCarthy & Stone and Reading Borough Council, nothing has been done to ease her plight.

"I was just at the end of my tether," said Mrs Ward "The lorries woke me up at 7am on Friday and I thought ‘right'. I got my car and sat in the middle of the road for an hour. There were so many lorries there but I stayed until 8am when they are supposed to start work.

"I even rang the police and told them I wasn't moving and that they should come up and sort out the problem."

The 57-year-old says she and her neighbours are at their wits' end.

She says noise, dirt, a loss of privacy and a daily battle with access into the cul-de-sac have become an everyday part of life. Mrs Ward claims there are up to 100 lorry movements a day

Reading Borough Council had originally refused planning permission for the homes but McCarthy & Stone took the application to an appeal hearing in Bristol and won.

The inspector concluded that the noise and disturbance would not be "demonstrably harmful" despite Chieveley Close being "relatively quiet, especially compared to Park Lane".

A council spokesman said: "The principle of residential, particularly sheltered residential, development on this site, has never been an issue but access to it has. However, access from Chieveley Close was considered on balance to be better than from Park Lane.

"Furthermore, it was not technically possible to develop all of the site using access from Park Lane. The number of site deliveries per day is generally in single figures but these may sometimes be concentrated at certain times of the day. The builder is complying with restrictions on working practices that we required and has been most co-operative when we have raised issues."

The work is expected to be completed eight weeks ahead of its 38-week schedule.

Reading West MP Martin Salter has attacked both the council and the

construction company for failing the homeowners.

He is calling for building measures to be enforced more vigorously with wider entry gates used, limits on lorry deliveries each day and access opened from Park Lane considered.

Mr Salter said: "I think the council have moved far too slowly and in my view the enforcement officer should be breathing down the neck of the contractors in order to protect the quality of life of residents during the construction period.

"In my view it is wholly inappropriate that heavy duty construction traffic is accessing this site via what was once a quiet residential area."

McCarthy & Stone spokesman Paul Davies said: "The council's enforcement officer has visited the site and told us he is satisfied with the conditions.

"We are now at the peak of the construction programme with deliveries of heavy materials.

This should ease by the end of January.

"This is not an easy site, but operations are being made all the more difficult by this lady parking her car on the road, obstructing delivery lorries and prolonging their stay. We have asked her politely to park in her own drive but she refuses. It is impossible to carry out a project on this scale without causing some disturbance and for this we apologise."